ew Product Helps USC Football Players Cut Down on Concussions

Columbia, SC (WLTX) - Seeing big hits is something every football fan loves to watch, but this year at USC practices you won't hear the impact from some of those big hits.

"These players are getting hit in the head more than 1,000 times every football season," said Lee Hanson creator of the "Guardian Cap."

Lee and Erin Hanson say that's where their new product comes in hand.

"The Guardian Cap is a soft cover that goes on the top of the football helmets," said Hanson.

From several years of studying the effects of hits to the head, the Atlanta based company called Guardian says that the new cap will reduce the impact of a hit by 33%.

"We knew that the majority of concussions happen in practice and we felt that if we could take some of the impact off the accumulation of all those sub-concussive hits, we would be making a real difference," said Erin.

"For the last two years we have had it out on the field, over 8,000 units between high schol and all the way to college."

The Gamecock football team is the first Division One School to use the Guardian Caps.
The Hanson's hope that it is a product that teams can use to keep players healthy for years to come.

"We want to protect as many players as we can, this is more of a passion to protect players, if I could give these away I would," said Lee.